How the Toyota New Global Architecture Will Impact Mass-Car Building

this is a massive undertaking.

 

71 million cars built worldwide in 2014

 

Great Minds, building grest cars! The future looks very bright!

 

I like that Toyota is still relying on people which can work faster in some instances than the robots can. Whereas everywhere else you seem to be hearing that robots are taking all the jobs away.

That said, I hope the new cars coming out and using the TNGA method makes them more fun to drive in addition to being reliable.

 

Heard that cause the high center of gravity drive of gen 3 Prius while feeling all the contour of the road gets old.

 

TNGA's flexible custom order assembly reduces the economy of scale to one - but how much customization is allowed isn't detailed. Customized(personalized) panels/fenders could make special edition body work easier to do. Carbon fiber panels could lower the vehicle's curb weight. Key standardized interior parts means it will be easier to find parts and to repair - but there isn't much detail on how much sharing will be done. is the customization only cosmetic or does customization allow for Interchangable functional assemblies - that alter a vehicle's performance or functionality? TNGA has five standard driver-height/ground heights/ground clearance setting. Keeping humans in the assembly line assures that quality is monitored each step of the way. While answering a few questions -this story triggers additional and more interesting questions about TNGA.

 

Quite revolutionary.

 

A tough nut to crack just makes me all the more determined, but: you've stumped me, lol.

 

me too.

 

Hat's off to Toyota for shaving fractions of a second from repetitive assembly processes. I'm hoping this new approach will helping areas like paint surface quality. In my observations Toyota paint has slightly more visible "orange-peal" than some other companies, but also slightly less than the companies. The consistency of surface from vehicle to vehicle is outstanding. I just hope they will increase the surface smoothness so it matches the best available. I don't think it's a cost issue (maybe a time issue which could equal cost) but I would rate BMW's paint surface as lower quality than Toyota's, whereas Chevrolet's paint surface varies from outstanding to poor.

Can't wait to check out the Gen4 Prius when it arrives.

 

I looked closely at a new Ford hybrid the other day because the paint color was so pretty and was amazed to find it was already peeling.merged.I'm skeptical of whether TNGA will save Toyota from the avalanche of recalls hammering the industry. For one, part of the recall saga is political; and second, Toyota cannot avoid part sharing with component suppliers.

 

If I'm reading the article correctly I feel this is more of a philosophical reawakening than an actual tangible change in how they plan to build automobiles.
Of course Toyota will want to continually improve, that is the goal, but towards that end Toyota will not be able to abandon modern production machines and standards. Robots will still build Toyota's.

In many ways I feel Toyota in becoming the world largest automaker, is still trying to learn themselves what that means to themselves. And it does mean something is lost....in the connection and individual craftsmanship that the original human worker based assembly lines might of offered. Recognizing this and the possible failures that come from massive growth, and reaching back, I think is wise.

The interchangeability among their platforms? I think that is inevitable and already exists to varying extent. As the worlds largest automaker, Toyota has to produce cars in a Largest Automaker manner, they have no choice. As a global leader, whatever they do, becomes the global architecture by default. Is it reinvention or inevitable evolution?

The debatable statement is whether Toyota workers are forgetting how to build cars, or as The World Largest automaker, has how Toyota builds cars simply and inevitably evolved to something quite a bit different from it's roots?

Kudo's to Toyota for realizing there is value in looking back...even as they move forward.

 

won't it reduce costs, allowing them to be more competitive?

 

sounds like a lot more complaints about generic styling coming with it.

 

and blinding

 

is that a walleye? they need to hire an italian designer.

 

or german.

or just hire one, period.

When I saw pics I thought: "oh man.. it is really ugly but maybe it looks better in real life." Then I saw one in dealership. It doesn't; it looks even worse - pictures do not give it justice.

 

oh yes they do.mergedi'm starting to think, 'just leave the gen III alone. okay, maybe kill the flying bridge.